The invention relates generally to ammunition magazines, and, more particularly, to an ammunition feed device for intermittently feeding beltless fed ammunition into a self-loading weapon.
An ammunition feed device of the subject type is generally known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,395. That patent shows an ammunition magazine with an ammunition guide chain connected to the ammunition feed device. A short loop of the ammunition guide chain is decoupled from the movement of the rest of the ammunition guide chain. Two bends of this loop are guided to move parallel to each other via a rocker force-coupled in the feed direction of the ammunition guide chain.
Ammunition magazines that employ a transfer device to transfer the ammunition to an ammunition feed device are also known from DE-36 44 513 C2 and EP-078 482 B1. Further details concerning this ammunition feed device, however, cannot be gathered from these documents.
Known ammunition feed devices suffer from certain shortcomings. For example, when a self-loading weapon is used as the drive mechanism, the ammunition introduction movement is usually intermittent, (i.e., a short, rapid acceleration and a subsequent stop occur). The weapon ordinarily serves as drive for the ammunition feed chain, for a transfer device operating between an ammunition magazine and the ammunition feed device, and for the ammunition guide chain in the ammunition magazine. The entire inert mass of these units must, therefore, be accelerated during each shot and then braked again. The ammunition feed chain of the ammunition feed device, however, is elastic to a certain degree. As a result, it develops restoring forces which cause back-and-forth rotational movement of the undriven deflection unit, the transfer device, and the ammunition guide chain in the ammunition magazine. As already mentioned, the latter units have high inert mass, so that the acceleration and braking forces are correspondingly high during the corresponding back-and-forth movement.
If the undriven deflection unit moves in a direction opposite the ammunition feed direction, the drive of the driven deflection unit must apply a large force (energy) during the next acceleration (the next shot), in order to first brake this movement occurring in the opposite direction and then accelerate it in the correct direction. Therefore, in prior art units, the drive of the deflection unit had to be designed very strong, so that it could apply the required braking and acceleration forces. The ammunition feed chains of prior art units were also severely loaded and were, therefore, designed to be correspondingly strong.
In accordance with an aspect of the invention, an ammunition feed device for use with a weapon is disclosed for feeding beltless fed ammunition to the weapon. The ammunition feed device includes a first feed roller and a second feed roller. It also includes an endless ammunition feed chain cooperating with the first and second feed rollers. The first feed roller is intermittently driven to feed ammunition in a first direction into the weapon. The ammunition feed device also includes a blocking device cooperating with the second feed roller to substantially prevent the second feed roller from rotating in a second direction opposite the first direction.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, an ammunition feed device is disclosed for feeding beltless fed ammunition to a weapon. The ammunition feed device is provided with a first feed roller and a second feed roller. It also includes an endless ammunition feed chain cooperating with the first and second feed rollers. The first feed roller is intermittently driven to feed ammunition in a first direction into the weapon. The ammunition feed device further includes a freewheel coupled to the second feed roller for rotation therewith. It also includes a ratchet wheel coupled to the freewheel. The ratchet wheel is selectively securable against rotation. The freewheel and ratchet wheel cooperate to substantially prevent the second feed roller from rotating in a second direction opposite the first direction when the ratchet wheel is secured and to permit the freewheel and the second feed roller to rotate in the first direction even when the ratchet wheel is secured.
Other features and advantages are inherent in the apparatus claimed and disclosed or will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description and its accompanying drawings.